Portraying the Aztec past : the codices Boturini, Azcatitlan, and Aubin / Angela Herren Rajagopalan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rajagopalan, Angela Herren, author.

Series:

Recovering languages and literacies of the Americas.

Recovering languages and literacies of the Americas

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Códice Boturini.

Codex Azcatitlan.

Codex Aubin.

Manuscripts, Nahuatl.

Nahuatl language--Writing.

Nahuatl language.

Aztecs--History.

Aztecs.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (229 pages) : illustrations.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2019.

Summary:

During the period of Aztec expansion and empire (ca. 1325–1525), scribes of high social standing used a pictographic writing system to paint hundreds of manuscripts detailing myriad aspects of life, including historical, calendric, and religious information. Following the Spanish conquest, native and mestizo tlacuiloque (artist-scribes) of the sixteenth century continued to use pre-Hispanic pictorial writing systems to record information about native culture. Three of these manuscripts—Codex Boturini, Codex Azcatitlan, and Codex Aubin—document the origin and migration of the Mexica people, one of several indigenous groups often collectively referred to as “Aztec.” In Portraying the Aztec Past, Angela Herren Rajagopalan offers a thorough study of these closely linked manuscripts, articulating their narrative and formal connections and examining differences in format, style, and communicative strategies. Through analyses that focus on the materials, stylistic traits, facture, and narrative qualities of the codices, she places these annals in their historical and social contexts. Her work adds to our understanding of the production and function of these manuscripts and explores how Mexica identity is presented and framed after the conquest.

Contents:

Introduction : portraying the Aztec past

Codex Boturini : a pictographic paradigm

Master and apprentice : the multiple artistic hands in Codex Azcatitlan

Don Martin Ecatzin : Codex Azcatitlan's cosmic hero

Traitors, intrigue, and the cosmic cycle in Codex Azcatitlan

Codex Aubin and the influence of printed books

Conclusion : central Mexican manuscript painting in transition

Epilogue. Life after production

Appendix 1. Translation of the Nahuatl glosses in Codex Azcatitlan

Appendix 2. translation of the Nahuatl text in Codex Aubin.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-4773-1608-6

OCLC:

1280943729